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Good evening it's
March 20th our regular Monday night class. Hello to all of you and to
those who are listening by way of the Internet. We’re going to continue on with
our 2017 topics of Chan 101A. Chan 101A is essentially the beginning lectures
but with a little bit more insight to them.

Tonight we’re
going to talk about FEAR. Fear can
be a form of suffering and it's an interesting thing, this the idea of fear,
and when we have fear, sometimes it's not bad. It’s like “well should I eat
these purple berries or not [you know] and you go “well I fear because they may
not be safe to eat.” Or that you get close to a ledge and you have a fear, some
kind of emotion inside of you that pulls you away from the ledge because all of
a sudden you feel that you get nervous, you get scared from getting too close. So
fear in some parts is biologically [kind of] imprinted into the human body but
we take it a little bit further than that and the idea there is that we apply
it to our “self” or use our “self” that's in there. Having the fear, it
actually reinforces the “self” and it perpetuates the “self.” It perpetuates
fear in us so there's different kinds of fear.

I was reading
about it today and one person define this as “An emotional response to the
perception of danger.” So the perception of danger, it doesn't necessarily mean
danger as a physical body like there is a flame there, “I don’t want to get
burned.” But it could be “well, that person present a danger to my “self,” not
to the corporal body but to the “ego.”

So this has kind
of evolved in terms of the human condition where we have this kind of fear. Obviously,
if we have a dog or a bird, if the bird is there you walk towards it, it will
naturally fly away. That's like its flight mechanism at work and we do quite a
bit of our own flight mechanism in terms of things that we do (as in fight or
flight) but they aren't necessarily predicated as harm to the physical body but
the harm to the ego. There's a fear of flying, there's fear of dying, fear of
the loss of a job, and fear of having somebody find out something about you or
to discover that “You mean that you were this way, or you did this, or you were
this kind of a person and nobody really knew what kind of a person you were?” Those
kinds of things are difficult because we want to protect the self. So there's
all sorts of fears and it produces some kind of emotion in us. But as I've
mentioned that this emotion also creates a habitual tendency in terms of that.

This is kind of an
interesting one that this one Lama was talking about the fear of flying He said…
and tell me what you think, what you think about this? This is Lama Zopa Rinpoche
and he says:

“Just before departure during the flight, it is good to
recite the names of the 10 direction Buddhas. You keep reciting the names in
which direction you are flying and you recite the Buddha’s names and pay one
point of attention to this. Not only will you be free from danger but your
wishes will be fulfilled. So not only is this for safe travel but successful
fulfillment of whatever goals you have going in that direction. It is very good
to pray not just for your own safety but on the behalf of all the people on the
airplane.

I would see that would be a safe bet that you’d
pray for everybody not to crash, right?

All 300 passengers and crew, and however many people
there are, for all of them to have a safe journey. Not only that, but you can
pray to whoever this airplane carries me to always be safe. It's very good to
pray like that.”

What do you think
about that?

Student: It
overcomes an irrational fear.

Gilbert: Overcome
an irrational fear? It’s interesting. Go ahead!

Student: Working
above the level you’re afraid of.

Gilbert: Working
above the level you're afraid of or trying to understand it?

Student: (barely
audible…)

Gilbert: Yeah, it's
interesting. I have this one joke that I talk about from comedian Paul Rodriguez.
He has a fear of flying so he was on the plane fidgeting and there's a very
conservative man sitting next to him. Paul Rodriguez was so nervous looking out
the window and sweating and he said “What’s the matter with you?”

He goes “I'm afraid
of flying you know, I don't want to crash.”

And the man said
“Oh, that's okay! Don't worry, everything is just in this way.” You know he said
something very philosophical and wise “You know, if it's your time to go, it’s your
time to go.” (Laughs…)

And he goes “I'm
not worried about my time to go. I'm worried about what if there’s somebody
back in that section over there it’s their time to go, I don’t want to go with
them!” (Laughs…)

Which is interesting
because this Lama, he was praying for all the people in the trip to have a safe
trip you know. Anybody else want to say something about this? Yes, go ahead.

Student: We pray
for other people’s safety and have compassion for their fear and it lessens our
fear because shared fear is lessened.

Gilbert: Yes, it's
very interesting and it reminds me of a story that might fit at this point.

There were these
two Masters and they're traveling from one temple to another temple. And while
they were traveling, one asked the other “Are there wild animals in this forest
like lions and tigers, and bears?”

And he said “You
know there's probably some tigers and bears in the forest.”

The one master went
“Huh!” He raised up both his hands up and like he was so frightened “OMG!”

So the other
master look at him he said “You still have this one with you!”

What was he pointing
out to him, “You still have this one with you?”

Student: Fear of
dying?

Gilbert: Fear of
dying? Fear of the self, yes this fear which is also ego. So he’s telling him “You
still have your ego!” You know, you’re not like the guy who says “If it’s your
turn to go, it’s your turn to go.” But you never test those things, by the way.

But in any case,
later on the other master that said that to him, he was sitting on a rock and
he started to meditate in the evening and they had a campfire there. The master
that put his hands up, wrote on the rock “Buddha.” So when the master that was
sitting on the rock noticed that the word “Buddha” was written on the rock, he
immediately jumped off the rock.

And the master
said “You still have this one with you.”

It's interesting
thing because the first master was just saying that he's afraid putting his
hands up in a very dramatic way like “Oh my!” But the other one mistook that
because of his own ego and then jumped on it to correct him, and then later on
was taught a lesson. It is very interesting because here's this master saying “You've
got to do the recitation [you know] in all directions and you have to do that.”
What do you think? Do you think that would be helpful? Go ahead!

Student: If it
helps that person that has a fear of flying. That person is not the regular
person [if you will]. But it could give that person some faith and it could
take their mind off that fear. So it is
helpful advice for a person who is afraid of flying.

Gilbert: Do you think
this lama is afraid of flying?

Student: This Lama
is not afraid of flying. He’s advising that or for somebody else who is afraid
of flying.

Gilbert: Just
before departure he’s saying that that’s always helpful to do this so it's
something that he does. Go ahead, pass it that way. It's very interesting. We’re
getting to this issue and we’re going around in a side way like a side door to
go to where I want to go with it.

Student: Well I think
that there is a chance that a plane will go down due to causes and conditions.
We are not perfect in building airplanes so saying those prayers in all 10
directions certainly helps. We make a vow to deliver all sentient beings and we’ll
deliver those sentient beings out of their fear of flying, if there is a fear of
flying. So we’re just kind of saying these prayers as a [maybe] way of relaxing
them into that moment rather than into their fears. So it’s delivering sentient
beings out of their fear I guess.

Gilbert: Yes, it’s
very interesting. Soon I’ll be on my way to Toronto and before we take off I'll
be doing recitations. That’s why I’m saying that my viewpoint is not too far
from this Lama.

Actually there was
a story about a Rabbi and the priest and they were jumping out of the airplane that
had trouble and they both had parachutes on. The Rabbi got to the doorway and
he did the sign of the cross, and the priest said “Hey, you’re Jewish!”

And he just
shrugged his shoulders and said “It can't hurt!” (Laughs…)

Student:
Regardless of what religion and spirituality they are, there were countless
examples of effects of positive intentions and positive thoughts and willful
prayers in that way. So if they’re sending out good feelings, safe and compassionate
intention for the flight, it can't hurt but hopefully will help alleviate the
fears of the others in the flight as well and help pave the way for a good
flight. I don’t know if we’re going to completely know if it’s going to do it
or not but there’s been so many different samples of even long-distance positive
intention having positive effect on our universe.

Gilbert: Yes, and
that's fine and it is kind of an interesting one and a kind of a minor
digression but not necessarily a bad one. Another analogy that one does not
want to hear is fear of snakes. There's a very often told story about mistaking
a bit of rope for a snake. Have you ever done something like that you thought a
clump of hair was a spider or something [you know] there's an illusion there that
there's something there of danger to you. So when you see that, right away you
have a fear because your mind is manifesting that and bringing that up and seeing
that but it's an illusion. But the fear itself, it's also an illusion and so
it's something that there's an illusion creating an illusion in terms of what's
there.

There was a story
a long time ago and it was a comedy talking about ancient times in medieval
England. One of the persons, the guards reported that he had seen a ghost on
the battlement on the top. But when he told his superior, his superior thought he
was talking about goats. So he went up there looking for the goats and so he
says “Nay, sire! It's ghost!”

And he said “Be it
ghosts or goats or ghosts of goats, I still don’t have fear of it.”

And the idea is that
we have these formulations of fears that kick in and we have to see that from where it comes from. It is very important
for our practice to be able to subdue these kinds of fears.

My eldest son, I
had given him a present, this very valuable audio cartridge. When I gave him
the present, he was so happy. He put it on his turntable and I helped him set
it up. And in the course of two days, he was using a towel and ripped the stylus
right out of the cartridge. He had great fear to text me. I know it's quite a
bit to text me, to tell me what he had done. He said “You’d never guess what I
did!”

I said “You ripped
the stylus off the cartridge?” (laughs…) “Wild guess!!!”

And he said “Yes
dad, I actually did that!”

So he had such
great fear of what I was going to do like “What!!!” You know, “You’ve got to be
crazy, blah, blah, blah!!!” But it happen! Good, we’ll take care of it! And I
just went immediately to “we’ll take care of it we’ll deal with it” and stuff.
But you know, what are you going to do? Those things do happen. And so the thing
is that he carried for a day and half the fear of texting me, to tell me that
he just ruined the gift that I had given him. But it's just the way we are having
these fears and he misjudged how I was going to respond to him. I could have saved
him a lot of grief in terms of that.

So the thing is
that we create this illusion of things and say “Oh, he’s going to do this or
that!” I mean he’s my son. Am I going to whip him or something? I’m not going
to do that. I mean I just understand these things happen and I know that just
in that moment he wanted to clean the turntable and he just caught a thread on it.
That happens! And my thing is that next time when you get it back, you're going
to have to be very mindful, very Zen-like. And if you have a good audio system,
you're very Zen-like in everything you do, from touching the vinyl, to putting
it down, and putting the needle down, and being very aware of lifting it up and
all that. It’s all part of that whole process, that you do that. So there'll be
something positive that comes out of that.

A lot of time, we
say that the reason we have the fear is because we’re not able to see something,
we’re not able to understand it and as a result of it, our mind creates the
shadows, the scary shadows. And as result of the scary shadows, what happens is
we formulate certain emotions that come up. We don't really understand it. I
mentioned this before as well, that when Christopher Columbus landed in the Indies,
the natives were unable to see his ships. They couldn't see them. Anybody know
why they couldn't see the ships?

Student: They
couldn’t conceive of anything of that nature.

Gilbert: That’s
right; they could not conceive of anything of that nature so their mind, it's
essentially just looking at the horizon and the horizon disappeared. They could
see it but it was not anything conceptually that they had dealt with. And as
result of that, there was the illusion that it was not there.

But this is very
very good analogy to the way that we see the world. We see the world and we see illusion, and we think the illusion is real;
and we think mind is the illusion because we can't conceive of it. We can't
conceive of mind; not consciousness but of mind, so it disappears. We can't see
it. But when you talk to the masters, the masters that have seen it, they’re
always so joyful “It's right here! It's so clear, right here! It wasn't until
this moment that I realized my nostrils pointed downward. It was right there in
front of me!” My master, Master Sheng Yen, he would say “You are just swimming
in it all the time; you’re swimming, swimming in it!” He’d move his arms up and
down like that. He had very long arms and long fingers and he would just be delighting
in making the swimming motion and laughing to himself because nobody could
understand what key he was playing in. Because we were seeing illusion and he
was seeing mind everywhere. Wherever he looked, it was mind. Wherever he looked
at, it’s causes and conditions and he could see the things very very clearly. He
did not have the fear of things. He understood things as they were manifesting.

It is very very
interesting. Our fears come from our confusions and imaginings. Departing from
that, then we don't have that kind of the fear. As you get older, some people, not
all people, you know you begin to lose your fear of things. Once we see the
world as it really is, then we don't have the idea of fear. Older people, if
they've worked it out, they don't have the fear of dying. If they haven’t worked
it out… have you ever seen a person that has a fear of dying that’s dying? It's
very frightening; very very frightening because at that moment all sorts of delusions
will come. All sorts of enemies will come to vex them at that point, and
different things that come to them. And they cannot handle it. They really have
a very tough time with that.

On the other hand,
if you see a person that has no fear of dying, it's actually a very incredible
experience to see them pass. One of my students passed away last year I think.
She was a very interesting person because I went to see her. She asked me to go
see her in the hospital, and she was part Indian [Native American]. As I was
coming to her room, I could hear her shouting out orders to the nurses you know.
I went in there and I looked at her and I said “Today is not a good day to
die.”

She just laughed
because it was a quote from the film Little Big Man where this one Indian thought
he was going to die that day and he put himself upon the rack. But then his
friend came and told him “You're still here?”

And he said “Yes,
this is not a good day to die” So he walked out.

I had a wonderful
conversation with her for quite a while and then later, she was working on some
of the things that we talked about and she just kept working at it, and working
at it, and working at it, and she was alive. Until finally she said “I got
it!!! I got it!!!” She figured it out! It is not something that’s a puzzle that
you figure it out and there’s an Alex Trebek answer to it [you know]. It’s something
much deeper in there. It’s something that you never could see that all of a
sudden you see. She saw it. She realized it. And that day, it was a good day
for her to die. That’s the way you go out of here. That’s the way you go out. A
week before she died, she actually came to the class and talked to all of us.
It was a very big thing for her to do, to spend time with our class. That’s no
fear.

So we have this
kind of emotion, this mind experience of fear. There is no fear in the
environment. It is an illusion that's being created by the mind. Again, we cannot see the mind from the viewpoint
of the self. It's impossible to do that. One must abandon the notion of the self in order to see the mind. This
mind that we use is the very Buddha-mind. When we understand that, then fear
has less control over us. Master Linji said “If you want to see the Buddha-mind,
the mind that the Buddha uses, that the Patriarchs use, it's just this very
mind,” the mind that you're using now. If you use this mind in the right way,
it's like realizing that you were raking the leaves on the grass with the wrong
side. Everything becomes very easy, very smooth, very clear, as to what we're
doing. So it's just simply re-orienting what some masters say “To turn the mind's eye inward.” When I hear
that, I go “Yes and No” because it's as if one is just making the mind's eye
mind itself, that there's no place - no inward, no outward. But when they say
inward, it is simply to illuminate what is arising in mind. When we illuminate
the idea of fear, this fear will dissipate because we are putting a spotlight on
it. It's connected to the ego. The ego itself is a coward; it doesn’t want to be discovered.

Which is kind of
an interesting thing because it gets me to the next part, which is that we create protectors. We create the
divinity so that we can justify the self. And when we do that, we are like
taking away the responsibility for our own conduct – “the devil made me do it!”
or “God, why have you forsaken me?” So when you look at that and you see it, it's
a different way of looking. And Jesus, when he was on the cross when he said
that, at the end he said “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Ah,
that was his realization. That was his big realization at that moment that it wasn't
about him.

It's interesting
because I am kind of threading on bit dangerous territory here. But out of fear
and not knowing, we create these divinities, the divine like God and things
like that but we also create a protection for them which is if you say “God is
dead!” “That’s blasphemous!!! You can't do that! How can you say those things
like that?” You know and because the mind creates this extra wall there to protect
it so that we dare not look behind the curtain in terms of what's there,
whether it be the Buddha or God in whatever manifestations that are there. All
of that too is to create fear “You can’t do that! Don't mess with God because
he's going to punish you.” (Gilbert looking up, “I’m not messing with you,
okay?”)

There’s a story of
this one master. He was walking with one of his young novices along the
courtyard to the temple and along the courtyard, there were a series of Buddha
statues on each side of the courtyard or the walkway to the temple. And being
an old man, he pulled over to the side of one of the statues and started
relieving (peeing) himself.

The young novice
was very very surprised at the boldness of this monk and he said “But Shifu (Master),
you're peeing right by the Buddha statue!”

And so as he was
peeing, the old monk turned his head over his shoulder towards the young monk
and said, “Show me where the Buddha is not and there I'll pee!”

The idea is not in
clinging to the notions of divinity, or enlightened beings, or whatever, it's
seeing things very very clearly.

There was another
story of a master on a cold night burning a wooden Buddha statue because they
needed to be warm so it made sense to do that. When the young monk saw him throwing
the statue into the fire, he was shocked. So the monk told him “Do you think
this Buddha statue has relics?” (Relics, there’s a term in Chinese called “Shirlisi(?)”
Relics are when you cremate the body of an enlightened being, there are these little
pearl substances that are there. Has anybody seen these before? (Some students
nodding their heads…) They are real! These
are pearl substances that comes from the body.

But he was saying “Do
you think if I burn this wouldn't statue, it's could have the shirlisi or
relics in them? No, it's not!” So he was seeing clearly. “If we don’t burn the
statue, we might be dead before morning from cold.” So it is in the way that we
see things clearly and we depart from fear and confusions.

Once I was in New
York and there was one person listening to my lecture there. He was Dharma
teacher and a very wonderful man. He asked me during the lecture he said, “You
know, I asked Shifu (Master Sheng Yen) and I've asked other masters something
and I hope that you can tell me what they could not tell me.”

I said “What is
your question?”

He said “What is
mind?”

I said “That's the
next topic I'm going to talk about - what is mind and I suggest that you listen
carefully, and if you do not understand what I'm talking about, you do not know
mind, then I suggest that you kill your “self.”

And he literally
mouth the words “kill my “self?”

I go “Yes, kill
your “self!” And he was shocked; totally, mortally shocked that I said that to
him. And then I said “And kill the Buddha while you're at it!” He was shocked
not knowing what key I’m playing in.

And afterwards they
told me “Did you know that your lecture was going out on the radio?” (Laughs…)

I don't think I
would've changed a word. I mean… but it surely scared the heck of a lot of
people - looking for a Buddha to kill. But the idea was not clinging to things,
not having fear, not holding onto the ego.

That weekend when
I was leaving, he came to me and joined his palms and gave a very sincere vow
to me because he understood then. He realized what I was talking about.

Student: (barely
audible…)

Gilbert: I will do
that but if you don't understand… (Laughs…) The idea is this, is that the ego cannot realize mind. Mind can realize
the ego, can look into the ego. That's turning the mind's eye inward. Consciousness
cannot hold mind. Consciousness is the manifestation of mind. He was speaking
from consciousness. He was speaking from the illusory ego. And so by doing that,
he had to see that. He had to see that it was this clinging that did that. So when
I said “You should kill your “self,” I'm not talking about corporal body. I'm
talking about killing the “self.” And when he understood that, then he'd looked
into it through introspection, that he was able to know what key that was. Good, I didn’t want to lose a student,
(Laughs…) or the Buddha…

I haven't even gotten
to the main program yet. So we also do something very interesting. We create Mara and the devil, more fear
of things and the idea of saying that we’re going to be tempted, that we’re going
to have this and we’re going to do this.
Christians are very big on Satan and the temptations of Satan. Actually the
name Satan only appears twice in the Bible. Satan actually wasn't a Satan like
the devil. The word “satan” was the word “sa-tan” which means “a tester” –
somebody that God uses as a tester to send down to Earth to test people to see
if their faith was proper or not, not to commit them to everlasting hell.

It was very
interesting because I was having a discussion with this one Christian, very
fundamentalist, very devout Christian. I was treading easy with him but he said
“Do you believe that evil exists in the world?” What would you say Sentha? Think
about it. Do you believe evil exists in the world?

Student: Evil is extreme
duality.

Gilbert: As to what?

Student: Good and
bad.

Gilbert: Does that
mean that there's good and bad? In our practice we say “neither be for nor
against.”

Student: Neither
good nor bad is what they say.

Gilbert: No good,
no bad. So, is there evil? Does evil exist?

Student: It is
extreme duality. Duality is perception and when there’s extreme duality, evil
can be perceived.

Gilbert: Alright,
go ahead! Now we’re getting to the root of all evil – fear.

Student: Isn’t it
true that what is evil for one may not be evil for another?

Gilbert: It could
be. And your point?

Student: There is
no point.

Gilbert: Does evil
exist? Because you said something so that means that that evil does exist
because there’s evil for one person but maybe not for the other.

Student: I do not
believe that evil is an entity but I do believe that at any point in time,
causes and conditions may create something that is perceived as evil and then
it passes away.

Gilbert: Give the
microphone all the way to the very back to Paloma.

Student: I think
that evil is extreme attachment, super attachment and that’s what it is.

Gilbert: You mean
attachment to evil?

Student:
Attachment to ego, not evil; to the ego.

Gilbert: To the
ego. Alright, you were going to say something?

Student: I was
going to say that it exists in the illusionary sense of our world but it
doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist and it does exist. It exists because we create
it, we believe it but in mind, there is no evil, no good nor evil.

Gilbert: Now
follow the bouncing ball. I asked “Does evil exist?”

And he said “It
does and it does not.” It does in apparent reality and illusory consciousness.
But ultimately, it doesn't exist at all.

And he went “What?”

And I go “I can prove
it to you.”

And he said
“What?”

I said “Yes!”

Where does evil
come from? If you are a Christian, “Where does evil come from?” I was just mentioning
his a moment ago – the devil, Satan. So where did Satan come from? He came from
heaven. This is what he told me “He was a fallen Angel.” He was one of God's
right-hand man or left-hand man and he fell from grace.

And I said “Really,
then who created the angels?”

“God.”

“Who created Satan?”

“God.”

So then evil comes
from God. If evil exists, it comes from God, not from the devil. Now people by
now are probably going “You’re going to burn in hell for that!”

But I’m using what
we call reducio ad absurdum. Nagarjuna was
very good at this in terms of looking at it and reducing something to its most
absurd property. This is not to humiliate him but to let him know that there is
no such thing as this ultimate, concentrated evil. It isn’t in this way. We see
the things in accordance with causes and conditions. We see that man,
politically correct man and woman, are capable of some very very nasty things,
very bad things. But where does the evil come from and all of that and we look
at that. And when you see that it comes from here and from the Christians, it comes
from God, then how can we say [you know] that there's true evil? It's just
manifestations.

And his response
to me is “You are a very educated intellectual person but you have yet to see
like the realization.” And I said “Yes, you're probably right.” And the idea
here is that, I don't mean to diminish Christianity, I mean if you have the
devil and it keeps you from doing bad things, so be it! But you don't necessarily
need it not to do bad things. You just have to see the ego, illuminate mind.
And when you illuminate mind, then you see things as they really are. When you
see it, initially you comport your conduct to what society says you should do
or what you begin to believe. Later on, there's no comporting the conduct,
you're just acting naturally in accordance with causes and conditions. This is
liberation. This is the stillness of the mind. There is a quietness there that
one can reach that is far from confusions, far from imaginings, far from fear. You have to practice moment-to-moment,
maintain the practice, and it will be revealed. Mind will reveal itself.

Student: Then
would evil be simply the word that we use for something that sets us a lesson,
so it teaches us something that we don’t want to be? So if we perceive
something that is “evil,” then therefore we aim to be the opposite and that’s
something that we strive to not be like?

Gilbert: The thing
is that you are trying to rehabilitate the ego. And by doing that, you're
trying to comport it and clean the ego up. And [you know] it's a reprobate that
you're pulling out of the gutter, and you're cleaning up, and brushing it off,
and going “Okay well, if you don't really want to be this way.” And it's going “Yeah,
let’s drink to that!” The idea is that it is not necessarily salvaging the ego
but seeing that the ego itself is an illusion. Once the ego is seen as an
illusion, then the mind is liberated to the point that whatever conduct this
body is using through body, speech, and mind, it doesn’t even have to think
about “Is this good or bad?” It just does functionally what is necessary in that
moment, never thinks that it's doing anything. It’s never thinking about thinking.
It just does and it's a different way of looking at it rather than trying to polish
the ego. If we try to polish the ego, you're still within consciousness so you
have to think outside that box. Any
questions?

Student: Why do
you think some people fantasize about evil? Is there ego in some way that
excites them? What is the entertainment value of that?

Gilbert: You have
to explain that a little bit more in terms of fantasizing about evil.

Student: It’s like
people love to think about people as evil. Like it allows them to be blind to
the light in that person like it almost makes that person a non-person.

Gilbert: What
happens is that people like to stereotype people. They like to look at things
and see things as evil and evil is what you don't agree with, [you know] “that
person is evil!” So as long as we look in this kind of a duality, that Sentha was
talking about, then you can never get there. Because it's what I always use, “Is
evil the statue without the fig leaf on the private parts?” Some people may say
that that is evil and some may say “No, that's natural” in terms of that. But
you have to think not from that viewpoint because we see all of what you're
talking about as causes and conditions, as attachment to things, an attachment
to and creating the idea of evil. Is it the devil that's making you do that, or
is it habitual tendencies that one has?

So when we see them
as habitual tendencies and we see them as illusions, we don't see good or bad.
We see what is really happening. It's very difficult for people to wrap around
that because they may think “All is lost; there's no morality. There's no
nothing. There's no morality that you define, but there's just simply the way
that things are. If you go around lopping people’s heads off, [you know]
someone is going to say that you’re an evil person. But we look at that as “maybe
what happened was that when you were a baby you were dropped you know.” I'm not
saying you were dropped but… (Laughs…) and it knock something screwy in you,
you know. I'm not saying that that’s the
reason why people are lopping people’s heads off. I'm just saying is all causes
and conditions why people do that. If people were molested as a child, maybe they
become a child molester afterwards because they have that kind of an energy
running through them and habitual tendencies that were dialed in when they were
kids. And so when we say “Oh, this this is a bad person” you know, “this is of
a bad clock, it’s not working right and we need to set it away.”

And yes it’s not
working right but when we see the things, we can't see it in terms of good and
bad. We just see it as causes and conditions. It’s difficult for us to move away
from those kinds of opinions but it's important that we look at it. It doesn't
mean that we condone it. What it means is that we understand it and that's
really really important.

Student: Then what
do you call it?

Gilbert: Mind.

Student: When a person
does that, we don’t want to call them evil or a bad person, but as adults they
need to be sequestered from society for the safety of humanity, what should we
call them?

Gilbert: A
prisoner. Causes and conditions never fail you know. We’re not saying that
person is evil but if the person does something that is a violation of the law,
they are going to jail or they're going to be executed, especially if you’re in
Texas. They got like an express lane to send them to however they execute them.

The last thing I
want to talk about, it is actually a Koan. It
is a particular capping verse. I'll read it to you and explain it to you. It
says:

The cave of the Blue Dragon is ominous.

Only the fearless dare to enter.

It is here that the forest of patterns is clearly
revealed.

It is here that the one right pearl is hidden.

Does anybody know
what this is talking about? “The cave of the blue Dragon is ominous”- is this
consciousness, all the patterns that appear on the walls of consciousness.

“Only those who
don't have fear” - aren’t afraid of seeing what things are made of - “can enter.”
Otherwise you're just like a jack-o'-lantern with the light coming out of your
eyes, and your mouth, and your nose, and your ears. But you never bothered to
look inside the say “Hey, it’s just a candle in there! I thought it was
something scary!”

“It is here that
the forest of patterns is clearly revealed” - turning the mind's eye inward to
look inside the jack-o'-lantern can one see. I have one student from a
different chapter. I would always call him “Pumpkin Head” you know because he
was always stuck on this so I just say “Pumpkin Head!” Actually he’s a very
good student.

“It is here that
the one right pearl is hidden.” What is the pearl? Mind. Mind is hidden in all
of these. Remember I was talking about how you look around but you only see
illusion, you don't see mind? But when
you see all of apparent reality as a manifestation in mind, that is mind itself.
So that’s your Koan to look at today. Think about them and see how this works.
I cannot take you any farther than that. Matter of fact, you cannot enter; but
you need to contemplate and investigate.

Student: Does
right action still come out of causes and conditions?

Gilbert: Yes,
right actions come out of causes and conditions in this way. But for the fact
that you practice and you study, you would not know right actions. But the
thing is that it is in this way - that as you’re listening and you’re doing
these right actions, that I have to say to you that “I have nothing to teach
you!”

And then you say
“What do you mean, “I have nothing to teach you!” What am I learning from you
then?”

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The Secret to Happiness

Good evening it’s March 13, 2017, our regular Monday night class.
We’re going to continue on with the beginning topics Chan 101A with a little
bit of an extra to it.

Last week I think I talked about suffering. Today, I want to talk
about happiness. I need you to think,
“What makes you happy?” Maybe a warm puppy snuggling up next you... that just
peed on your favorite jacket? (Laughs…) Your wife telling you how strong you
are right before she tells you to take out the garbage? Happiness is an
interesting thing. What makes you happy?

Student: Sometimes anything, sometimes nothing! It seems to be any
internal state that's only somewhat influenced by what's going on around me.

Gilbert: Why is it only somewhat influenced by what's going on around
you?

Student: Because sometimes things that are going on around me do
seem to key the internal feelings and change them. Sometimes they do and
sometimes they don't.

Gilbert: Okay, these very nebulous types of answers. Sentha how
about you?

Student: I’ve been thinking about this so I found that equanimity
is a very important part of what makes me happy, and holding it lightly,
holding the self and all phenomena lightly, the nebulousness of the self and
all phenomena. Just being aware of the wispiness of self and all phenomena.

Gilbert: Pass it over to the next.

Student: I’m going to be very unBuddha-like. I was picturing when
I am on the ocean. Whether I’m sailing or on the surfboard, I’m very happy.

Student: The things that generally spark happiness in me are when
I’ve completed some kind of task that are either interesting or inspiring to me
and I feel like I’ve put a lot of creative effort into that task and that I’m
happy with the output, whether it’s something artistic or something more like
school-related.

Gilbert: Okay, sounds like a very honest answer. Next one.

Student: Things that makes me happy is being outside - like in
nature, something more tangible I guess. And like this gentleman being also in
the ocean more specifically.

Student: Well, cool is not the right word. It’s something true
like finding out how things work, the understanding of it makes me very happy.

Gilbert: Okay, yeah! Alright next one.

Student: At my age, (Laughs…) happiness is a quiet house.

Gilbert: You better watch out, you might quiet out too quickly.

Student: (Laughing…) What I mean by that is not too many dramas
and things like that [if you know what I mean]. I’ll leave it at that because it
might get me into trouble. LOL!

Gilbert: Okay, next one.

Student: Happiness is taking the time to be in the moment and
connecting with whatever stimulus is in front of you - whether it’s someone, co-creating
with them, or something not human, a thing of beauty, whatever's around you.

Gilbert: Alright, we have one more here. Take a crack at it.

Student: What makes me happy is seeing other people happy, their
suffering either overcome or working with their causes and conditions and being
able to even be okay with them. It makes them not sad when they’re doing that.
So I think it other people’s happiness brings me happiness.

Okay. Last week, we were talking about suffering so I kind of want
to change that a little bit, but not so much though really. But they're all
connected in what we see in terms of where we’re at. One of the sayings or in the first Chan
retreat that I went to, there was a verse that we would say during the ceremony
at the evening service. It said:

“This day has passed.

So too, our lives are closing.

Like fish with little
water,

Joy will not last.

Let us practice with pure
effort.

Practice as we would were our
heads aflame.

Be mindful of impermanence.

Be careful of idleness.”

In this, it kind of stuck in me because the first time when I was
reading this, I was going like “What joy? My legs are killing me!” And then
later on when my legs are no longer hurting me, it was really sinking in. And
in other retreats where it was kind of a very sobering type of a look at things,
I was going like “Well, this is somewhat kind of a downer.” And then I thought
like “No, there’s something here. It is not meant to be a downer, it is meant
to be something for us to take a look at and see how we are: we’re like fish in
little water, our lives are closing this way.” When we see things in this way, we
recognize that there's a finite amount of breaths that we take and we have to
look at this and say “What is happiness? How does that fit in my life? How does
it work? What is this fleeting happiness [because you're not always out in the
woods, or in the water, or wherever and you’re more likely at work]? How does
this fit in with all the things that we are and what we’re doing? And how can
we have this happiness here and in this place? So that’s what this is all about,
what I'm addressing today.

So my lecture, the formal lecture is called The Secret of Happiness.

Don't let the environment define us, we define the environment.”

We're under the illusion that we will find peace and happiness in
the environment. We constantly try to convert situations into some benefit for
ourselves. Even when we're acting in what we believe is an unselfish manner, we
still give good wishes to our family, and our friends to be a success. Why? Because
it beautifies the environment. We seek that all is well in this world but we
are constantly under attack in trying to stabilize our environment.

When I was a college student, I had a TV that was really old. It
didn’t have any buttons on it and you had to change channels from behind. You
stick your finger into a plugged-in TV [so much for being a college student], but
it was good fortune that I'm still here to talk about this one. On top of the
TV was these rabbit ears and if you move them a bit, you can get a clearer
picture. But it was fleeting there after a while, whatever the cosmic forces
were such that would move it, if my new show is of a distance and I’d lose the
channel.

Gilbert: Rabbit ears are antennas like a router on the top of the
computer but two very thin ones like the antennas on a car. You can Google that
one.

And if everything was right, the weather was right, and Venus and
Mars was in perfect alignment, you can get a signal in. But most often, the
signal would be fleeting. And it was this transitory happiness that you got a
picture and then it was gone. Each day, we work towards our idea of a perfect
day, kind of like Groundhog Day so to speak.
There are times when this does happen.

Quite a long time ago there was a beer commercial where they had
these middle-aged guys and they were sitting on a veranda or a porch. There was
a portrayal in there where they had their feet up on the porch, and their
chairs were kicked back, and they all had a beer bottle in their hand, and they
were looking at the stream down below [they must've been fishing there earlier],
and it was getting late in the day and one of them turns to the other one and says
“It doesn't get any better than this!” I was thinking about that and when I
looked at it, I said “Really, is this what it's all about, to like have this
moment in the sunset with a beer in my hand and with my friends?” And I noticed
there weren't any women there. Hmmm! Maybe that's the secret to happiness.
(Laughs…) Some of you are kind of looking at me with a sour face but it's okay.

Student: (barely audible, couldn’t decipher what she said)

Gilbert: So I thought “Maybe they found some sort of Nirvana -
lasting happiness, until at least the beer runs out or Sunday is over.” So when
you look at it and say “What is your life's goals? What is this all about?” You
being here means that you care about what it's all about. You think there's a
little bit more to it than just going to school, or working, or whatever. There’s
got to be something there and that’s good because we always have to look at
this and say “What is this all about? Where is this happiness?” Are you
comfortable or you’re just comfortable like hitting the reset button and having
déjà vu all over again and coming back in another life again like Groundhog Day
type thing where you just keep coming back and coming back? Or are you getting
tired of this carnival ride that’s spinning around and you want off?

One part of that is looking at it and say “Hey, this is a carnival
ride!” This is something here that we're seeking some form of amusement, of
entertainment, of satisfaction here. But can you really find it here? Can you
find it in terms of this life where you could say “Yeah, that's life!!!?” You look
at a person that is very, very rich but they suffer so much because somebody
may be richer than them, or somebody may be more famous than them, or whatever
it is. It never stops. It doesn't matter how much you have. This isn't the
proper formula for happiness in this life.

The Issue of Life and Death

We need to look into the issue
of life and death. What arewe
doing here? What is the meaning? I know we’re too busy trying to fathom out
life's problems. To men, fathoming out life's problems is like saying “Why is
my wife mad at me? When was the last time I cleaned my belly button?” And of
course, the riddle that originated since the beginning of time, or at least
modern age, “Where did the socks go that don’t come out of the washer?” If only
anybody can figure that one out.

To women, they have similar problems; “When did my husband turn into
a couch that snores? Do I look fat in this dress? Will this ridiculously
expensive cream really make me look five years younger? And what if I put on
twice the amount, will that make me look 10 years younger? Well, I’ll buy it
and find out.”

Back to the topic of happiness:

Have you ever tried putting something together and got really
frustrated putting it together and you can’t quite figure out how it all
connects in, and all of a sudden, all the pieces clicked in place? The problem
that you had when you were trying to assemble it was you were trying to
assemble and connect each piece and you didn't see how it functions. You didn't
see how that works. Rick here is a mechanic, he probably understands this more.
You have to know what it does before you put it together and how it does it.
And looking at it from this other viewpoint, all of a sudden it makes sense why
this lever goes here, and this gets tied in here and this socket is here. And
when you see things in this way, it the changes the way that you would address
issues.

But this is life! When we don't see it in this way, what happens is that we are
constantly trying to connect; “Why is this person mad at me? Why isn't this happening?”
Instead of seeing the bigger picture and to see things from a different
perspective [outside the box so to speak], but a different way of looking at
things rather than trying to find the happiness in trying to connect this
little dots, finding out common ground and seeing how it works. And then you go
“Ah, I see! I see how this works! “If I hold on to this, it would cause me
suffering. If I do this, this will happen and if I do this, this will benefit
this person. So you are working towards this and you're working towards the answer.

Life is like chasing dust. If you don't like that analogy, then just consider it Stardust.
When we see things just as they are, then all that is seen is wisdom - that it’s
the totality of how things are: no room, no dust, no pan, originally no mirror
nor mirror stand bright, where is there any place for the dust to alight? This
is the key to Huineng’s what is called Subitism. Anybody remember what subitism means, Sentha?

Student: Sudden enlightenment

Gilbert: Sudden enlightenment. Sudden enlightenment is this
realization that all of a sudden, that what
I'm saying is these words, but what comes to you is revealed to you by mind
itself. It is how things work and it is so darn simple, and you miss it because you're trying to
look at all these individual pieces and you're trying to confer upon you
some kind of status - it may be called enlightenment. But within all of that is
the idea of this… that all these things are interconnected, all these dots are perfectly
in their place. If I had a can of marbles and I tilted the can over, the
marbles would spill out and make a great racket and roll all over. But one thing
is really interesting about it. When they roll, they roll precisely, precisely in where they should end up at
and it is not left at chance.

Today one of my secretaries said “You know, today I was driving to
work and I was fidgeting with a button on my sleeve.” And she says “Normally
I'm very very good at watching the light but I wasn't watching the green light.
And the light turned green, and I was fidgeting, and I didn't go. And the cars
behind me beeped their horns, “BEEEP!!!” to make me go. And just as I started
to go, a giant truck ran the red light.” “Each
marble perfectly in their place.” She said she'd never done that before. Perfectly
in their place; is that happenstance? You
have to see the world from a different viewpoint and when on you see it in this
way, it changes the way you see things. Things happen for reasons; everything
around you. Whether it's marbles rolling on the floor, or what comes out of the
person's mouth, or what they think, and what they do.

Our Original Nature, our Mind, Just This Mind, is uncreated, it’s unborn.
Manifesting perfectly through what we call Paṭiccasamuppāda- causes and conditions never fail. This is mind, this is the Buddha-mind.
When we navigate this world with this as our foundation, we make less problems
for others, we make less problems for ourselves. We don't have fear, we don't
have unreasonable wants, it changes the way that we see things. But saying
these words to you is not the same as you coming to this realization. You have
to ask all the time, “What is mind?” You have to see what is happening in this
moment, constantly striving to keep
yourself awake.

We are someone that's like playing the Lotto, picking tickets out
of the bag and none giving the prize but each
one not separate from the other and each one the prize itself. We just
don't or cannot see it in this way. We are lost among the tickets. I once had a
student that was sad and confused so she wanted to be a success as an artist.
I’ve said this story before but allow me to say it again because it fits here.
She practiced what was called “The Secret,” which says that “If you asked for
it, it will manifest.” So if you ask or something, it will a will come into
being. But she was confused because it didn't work for her and she was very
frustrated; “It's in the book! I read it! It says that anything I want, I can
get it!”

I said “But you’re not mindful of causes and conditions.” You cannot
do that much less will yourself to fly unless you throw yourself over the
railing. You fly for a short while [I guess you could call it flying] but you cannot
fight causes and conditions. You have to
be in harmony with causes and conditions. If you're not in harmony, it will
not work for you. You have to see that this is the secret, not just simply
consciously wanting something. And even if you got it, what is it worth? Fame?
Money, it's fleeting! Youth, it's fleeting! You have to see things clearly.

And when we live day-to-day, moment-to-moment, in recognition of Paticcasamuppada, then the world begins
to be revealed as it is. We're no longer beguiled by illusions and
discriminations, no longer chasing pleasures at the sensory gates. We are
content: wanting not, seeking nothing, abiding nowhere, harmonizing everywhere,
without thought or intention. Simply naturally arising, not from conditions but
affecting future conditions. There is a peace in all of this, a moving
stillness, and extrication from the shackles, no rising hackles. Hackles are
hair that arises on the back of dogs and cats and we don't have a rising hackles
to the things that are going on around us. Things don’t bug us as much as they
used to bug us. It’s simply an understanding of all appearances and mindfulness.
Mindfulness - ultimately the realization of mind - a quiet path with the path
being the present moment guided with sincere vows.

So how did this lecture come about? Well, yesterday after
breakfast I was talking to my son and he was annoyed because he had to help me
clean up the dishes. This is just a pattern of his. He equates eating as something
happy but cleaning dishes is not. So he wants people to be unhappy like him to clean
up the dishes. This is not a very good attitude. And while he thanked me for
preparing the meal, he didn’t care much for the cleanup. His consciousness
began searching for dissatisfaction, drawing on statements I made to him to
justify his dissatisfaction. As he engaged in this thinking, he became more
irritated. This is a learned habitual pattern, a learned habitual
dissatisfaction. And I can set my watch with it after he eats and I say “Can
you help me with the dishes?” He will help me but he will let me know he's not
happy.

As he was cleaning up, I carefully began to give him a lecture. And
when you talk to a young son, you know, giving him a lecture is probably like
10 times worse than cleaning the dishes but he listens. One thing about him is that
he does listen. And since I had a captive audience there, at least until the
last dish was put away, then I advised him that it was not me but him that
robbed him of this tranquility. He must be very mindful not to let this thief
rob him of his peace. Due to the habitual patterns of his conduct, it is
predestined. If he becomes mindful not to simply use this habitual default
consciousness, he can free himself from the dissatisfaction. Finally, I told
him that there is no treasure greater in this world, nothing more valuable than
this lesson. Put into practice, it has more value than worldly material
treasures. I pleaded with him to be mindful of what I said. I said “It is the
path to happiness.”

This is the world that we live it in. We make it unhappy but we
can make it happy. But if we invest in transitory pleasures, transitory cravings,
we will never find true happiness. When you find true happiness, when you use
this concept of Paticcasamuppada
moment-to-moment-to-moment, and remind yourself you’re a practitioner, I
guarantee you if you do this, you will find a peace in your heart that is very
incredible; a peace that has no discrimination. It has no length of time unless
you decide to go back to seeking worldly pleasures. When we seek worldly
pleasures, you’re back in in the same fishbowl that you came out of. But when
you're in there in this fishbowl, you don't feel like you're in the fishbowl because
you can navigate with all the other fishes. But you know that it's all about
you, know that it's transitory. You know that things will happen in your life; that
always happen.

Some of you that are young enough, it probably it won't happen because
technology is getting better. But to the people that are older, I can guarantee
you that they went to their car at one time and tried to start the battery and
it wouldn’t start. That’s just the way it is so you have to see the things
correctly. If you can see them, those things don't bother you as much because those
things just happens. And you're not worried about that. You are not as concerned
that those things affect you. You change the environment. When people around
you are not happy, you don't have to be with them unhappy. You don’t have to
joke like “Oh well, it’s just transitory so what?” But you understand that you have a responsibility not to contribute
to that dissatisfaction. And if you do that, you teach the other people how
to do the things so that they are clear and they understand. You give them
something in the way they are.

And you’d be very surprised. I talked to many people, not just the
Buddhists because if I just talked with Buddhists about this, it would be a
very short conversation because there's not that many of us around here [at
least in Riverside], but to other people and Christians too. I found that they
laugh and later on they say “You know, I was talking to my mom and she was
saying things and I just said, “Everything is impermanent” you know, things
change. And another one said “Oh, I just told them ‘no good no bad.’” They remember
something. You change the environment around you and as you begin to change it,
it doesn't take long to change your environment. When you change it you know
where people before will do things that are unwholesome and all of a sudden
when you don't engage in it, they say “Wait a second, why is this person this
way? He's not getting angry,” or he's not doing this, or he’s not partaking in
whatever mind experiment you’re doing with your cannabis or whatever, and all
of a sudden, they don't have an interest in doing that anymore.

I just recently did that with one of my friends and he is just a
little younger than me, and he said “You know, I don't have the urge for that.”
And it only took me talking to him about three in terms of Dharma lectures. But
I talked to him and he said “I didn’t really want to do that.” And it was me
changing the environment but never telling him even once that he should stop
doing that. Now, I am not here to condemn that, I am saying that there are
things that you can use with your mind and you need all those brain cells and
you can have great pleasure without altering your mind in that way. If you get
a realization without drugs, and it is not going to be any sensory pleasure type
things, but the satisfaction from that is much more worth it and especially in
terms of what you do with your life after that.

So when we look for happiness, look for it in the right place. It
doesn’t mean that you have to walk around like a sad clown. You engage with
people. You can be humorous, you can be knowing, you can be quiet, you can be
wise, whatever you need to be in that moment, you are. Master Sheng Yen was a
master. My Master was a master of sitting into wherever he needed. If he needed
to be tough with people, he’d be tough with them. If he needed to cry, he’d
cry. If he needed to be happy or friendly, he’d be friendly with the people. If
he need to be patient, he’d be patient with them. We work in this way and by
using this and functioning in this way, it changes things.

I remember telling the story about this old man that came to the
center in New York. It was an old Chinese man and so they had told him that
there was an elderly Chinese man downstairs that wanted to speak with him. Master
Sheng Yen came down. Generally, Master Sheng Yen’s waking hours consist of writing
and writing a lot. You cannot imagine how many books he wrote. So he came down
and they set two chairs facing each other and he sat on the chair with the old
man. The old man looked at him and Master Sheng Yen said “How can I help you?”

Shifu, [you know] I’m retired and I don't like to listen to TV and
really I just needed to chat with somebody. And you, you're a monk so you don't
work so you have nothing to do. So maybe I could just talk with you.”

Master Sheng Yen said “Okay.” And he said “But, if we’re going to
talk to each other, we need to come up with a topic to talk about because
otherwise, it's just idle chatter. So you think of a good topic to talk about,
and then come back and I’ll be glad to talk to you.”

Here, Master Sheng Yen does not get angry. He is not insulted
because this person says he has nothing to do. In fact, in his death poem, he
said “I am busy doing nothing.” Truly, that was a true statement.

So days later, the old man came back. They said “Oh, the elder guy,
he’s back here again!” And [you know] everybody's wondering “what are they going
to do?” They were very curious to see what Master Sheng Yen would do. Is he
going to talk to this person and what is this person's topic? What is he going
to do? So again they sat opposite each other just looking at each other. And Shifu
says “You came back!” “Did you come up with a topic to talk about?”

And he said “You know Master Sheng Yen, I thought and I thought
and thought of some kind of a worthy topic to talk to you about, but everything
that I seem to think about really wasn't all that important. And I realized
that maybe you are very busy and I really didn't want to take up your time. So
I thank you for helping me out with it.” And then he left.

This is how things work. The man left happy and Master Sheng Yen was happy. He passes his
happiness on without giving a single lecture in terms of what’s there. We do
this in our function. There's no Master Sheng Yen that does this, no ego. I was
at a retreat with my students and we're sitting at a table. It was after the
retreat and there were many of Master Sheng Yen’s books for sale on the table
and people were trying to decide which ones they were going to buy. I saw him
coming and I picked up one of his books, and on the back of it was his picture.
And so as he came up to me, I said “Shifu, (and pointing at his picture) what
you think about this fellow?”

Master Sheng Yen knows I'm speaking in Chan, so he looks at the
picture. Curiously looking at it and then looking at me, he said “Him, I don't
know him!”

This is the way you practice. This is the way – masterful, so
simple, so ordinary, so wonderful, so beautiful. You don’t have to sit there
and whip yourself on a cushion and try to beat yourself into enlightenment. It
will never happen! You just have to put
it into practice and you let go. Most of you when you drive your car, you don’t
drive it with your hands so tight on the wheel, right? You're not in a race car.
You're not driving so tight. You drive it very loose. I know some you probably
drive it with a cup of coffee in your hand or an eyelash pen or whatever they
are called. But you don't have to be so tense; you loosen up. Loosen up every
day. If something happens to you, which happens to everybody, it's not
necessarily the end of the world [unless it’s the end of the world]. But you’ll
be in a better place to be able to handle the end of the world than trying to run
around saying “What am I going to do if it’s the end of the world?” Are you
going to run to the beach, run to the forest, have a beer, whatever? What are
you going to do? It is the end of the world as we know it. But anyway, it is
this way. It's the end of the world for
you in terms of how you see it, and you don't play the game of the world.
You still are functioning in the world but you don't play the game. And when
you work in this way, you're able to figure it all out.

A long time ago, I wrote an article. It’s one of the first
articles I wrote. It was about this movie called Wargames. It is an old movie
with Alley Sheedy and Matthew Broderick when they were kids. Now they’re
probably grandparents and most of you young ones don't know that movie. But it
was a movie in which this super computer which was in control of all the
missiles was going to launch all these missiles was out-of-control. This higher intelligence computer didn't know but
it was just blindly following this game, which was to annihilate the other side.
Until the young man had the computer play Tic-tac-toe and start second. So it
ran through all these simulations of the different types of launch scenarios it
could do, until it finally stopped within like 1 second or 2 seconds [whatever
it was], of the launch.

It says “It's an interesting game. We're playing but there are no
winners in this game. This is not something I want to play.”

This is what I'm telling you, is if you play the game of life the
way that you're playing it, there are no
winners. But you can play the game in a different way where you're not really
playing it. You’re in the game but you’re
in it in phenomenal but you're also in it in the intrinsic nature of the
mind. When I say “intrinsic nature of the mind,” I don't mean something that is
inside of something else. What I mean by the “intrinsic nature the mind” is Paticcasamuppada, which is causes and conditions
never fail. It's all there. Everything has this common ground.

And when you play the game in this way, and I hate to say “play
the game,” when you utilize Paticcasamuppada,
everything is clear. The next move is clear until one day you're no longer moving.
You're still and yet you’re moving all the time. One day that will
not be something undecipherable; it will be clear to you. That's the day that
you have a realization. Just keep working at it. The way you work at it is by
just following what I am saying - seeing the world moment-to-moment-to-moment,
through body speech and mind, carefully, clearly. If you do this, it will
change your life and will change the life of those around you and you will find
happiness.